Green recounts infamous Southwest flight

You’re John Q. Public, heading to San Antonio for a quick business trip, and none other than Tim Duncan sits down beside you on your early-morning flight from Orlando.

Such was the scene last November, when Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green were shuttled home via commercial air in advance of what had been slated as a marquee matchup in Miami with the defending champion Heat.

“I could (see the humor),” Green said Wednesday. “The media had a lot of fun with it.”

One person who didn’t was NBA commissioner David Stern, who followed through on his pregame threat of “substantial sanctions” — now a catch prase in Spurs lore — with a $250,000 fine even though they battled the Heat down to the wire of a 105-100 defeat.

That the quartet flew home via Southwest on gameday only added to the impression that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was thumbing his nose at Stern as much resting his players at the back end of a four-game, five-day road trip.

Green, however, said the original plan had been for the players to take a private jet the night before mechanical issues forced a change of plans.

“We were on the plane,” he said. “but we didn’t move anywhere. We were just looking at some things, trying to clean it out and they found out…it wasn’t safe to take off in that plane.

“And they checked out the next earliest flight, it was commercial. We didn’t purposely go Southwest the next day to let everyone know we weren’t going to play. The plan was supposed to be getting back the night before so we could have more rest. Obviously it didn’t work out the way we wanted to.

“At the time, it wasn’t as funny, especially when we got the fine. But afterward, looking back at it, it’s one of the things you go through. We saw a lot of you guys (media) at the airport. At that point, we knew it was going to be a big deal.

“Luckily it was Southwest, so you get to pick your seat. I had decent leg space.”